Dear Substackers,
It was another busy month for your favorite author, songwriter, and publisher in permanent exile as the closet-cleaning which began in July continued apace. In case you missed a post or two, I’ll provide a summary below of everything that happened here at Mission Control in August. Since most of my housekeeping efforts centered around my YouTube channel—which I hope you will subscribe to if you haven’t already—let me begin with that.
Welcome to MarkWillWrite on YouTube!
I finally uploaded a channel trailer to the YouTube version of MarkWillWrite so that subscribers will know what they’re getting into:
If you prefer a more personal appeal, check out this alternate take:
Attention, Textual Deviants!
All of the old episodes of season 1 of Texting: A Podcast for Textual Deviants have now been posted on YouTube. Here are some of the highlights:
I’m still chopping up the full episodes into clips but it will take a while to finish that task as there are so damn many of them and my priorities, after all, should be book-writing and music-making, right?
#Shorts
I’m working on a series of short videos promoting the first volume of my epic poem in blank verse, Of Letters and a Man, which is inspired by the Phoenician alphabet and its legendary inventor Cadmus. Here’s the video I made for the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, Alef (meaning Ox):
And here’s old WW in another short reminding us about the necessity of self-promotion:
Narrated by MW
The channel trailer above promises audiobook excerpts so I should probably start uploading some soon. In the meantime, although the audiobook version of my translation of Aeschylus’ Persians, currently available from Audible, is beautifully narrated by Guy Bethell, I’m recording my own versions of the choral odes. So far, I’ve done choral ode 1:
Choral odes 2-4 will be posted with all possible speed. Stay tuned for excerpts from the upcoming audiobook version of Earnest Games as well.
Synced Up
The YouTube channel has been synced to Odysee if you happen to prefer that platform. I’m also looking into Rumble and BitChute. More on that anon.
In Pod(s) We Trust
I’m delighted to remind you that Books Are Burning!, my new literary podcast, and Guitar & Pen, my new musical podcast, are now both up and running. Here are some samples:
Weekly Jukebox in Your Inbox
I hope you’ve enjoyed receiving a new “Song of the Week” with words & music by Mark Will every Friday. This one has received the most spins so far:
Let’s Make It a September to Remember
With a little luck, I’ll have an update for you next month on Pilgrimizing, my Israel-Palestine travelogue. More episodes of BAB! and G & P are in the works as well. Also, expect some posts on my recent trip to Hong Kong, the 2024 presidential run of Cornel West, Korean cinema, and more. The best is yet to come!
MW